Samson Brown, a junior at Hardin Valley Academy, has been taking Chinese language courses since his freshman year. Now in AP Chinese, he hopes this will strengthen his Mandarin. Not because he needs to order 宫保鸡丁 (Kung Pao Chicken), but because he will be living in Taiwan this summer. He will take four hours of language classes and one hour of culture class a day at the Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages in Gushan.
While he will be living on campus during the week, he will stay with a host family during his time in Taiwan. “That is a very crucial part of language learning,” Brown said. “If you have the opportunity to experience an immersion experience like that, it’ll really improve your language skills.” After class, he looks forward to eating the local food, so maybe he will need to be able to order his meals in Chinese after all!
Samson received a full scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s National Security Language Initiative (NSLI). Brown’s advice for other students: “Shoot your shot because I didn’t know I was going to get this scholarship, and what do you know? I got it.”
Susan Espiritu is the ultimate optimist who wants to share uplifting entertaining stories from your communities and youth! Send them to susan@knoxtntoday.com